CIA Had Fix on Hussein: Intelligence Revealed 'Target of Opportunity'

Washington Post ^ | March 20, 2003 | Barton Gellman and Dana Priest

[The Great Satan]

Rather clever, though, when you think about it.

[leadpenny]

Thanks. Looks like it's going in the right direction for now.

[BushCountry]

He is dead! Here is how we got him (the newies are just to stupid to figured it out). First we leak to the Media that Saddam doesn't know what is going to hit him. Thousands of targets are going to be blown away instantly. The big lie. Saddam runs to Mosul to get out of the massive bombing attacks in Bagdad. We watch, we wait, he dies! GW's a Genius! I said it here first. : )

[Mat_Helm]

Iraq.......all your Saddam are belong to us!

[Wallaby]

If we got somebody big. The way the Chinese are reacting makes me think they think we did.

[hotpotato]

CIA disinformation campaign about Tarik Aziz? There's a thought!

If CIA wanted to locate him (he's on Bush's list of "evil doers") and were having trouble doing so and needed to line up their five targets at one time (or thought... wherever Tariq goeth, so usually goeth Hussein and company), Aziz would be the easiest to flush into the open. He's always the spokesperson (until now... notice how absent he is after the bombing?) and is used to being seen in public with reporters. I can't imagine a better way to flush Aziz than force him to come out into the open to show Iraqi troops (who would otherwise be seriously demoralized thinking senior officers were attempting to escape) that he indeed had not run and was quite alive and quite in Baghdad.

:-) Easy to follow from that point. Fun thought, huh?

[The Great Satan]

I'm hoping it's Tariq Aziz. I'm not sure that I'd want to target Uday and Qusay off the bat -- they are his blood, after all. He might get really pissed off. Would Aziz be a good target? On the one hand, he strikes me as somebody who might be useful to have around because he's probably not suicidal, and might be a factor in cutting a deal. But that statement probably applies to everyone in the regime with the possible borderline exception of Saddam himself. On the other hand, removing him would be very isolating for Hussein, and isolation is the name of the game. I say that because Aziz is the slickest international spokesman he has and because as, a Christian, he has no power base. If someone else moves into the #2 slot, they'd probably be better positioned to stage a coup.

[The Great Satan]

They are really going overboard to sell us on the idea that the cruise missile strike was an assassination attempt on Saddam. Now, normally in warfare, if you have a shot at taking out the enemy leader, you just do it. We tried to do it many times to Hitler in World War II and with Hussein during the Gulf War. But, since that's usually a long-shot, you don't set the expectation level of your people at the outset of hostilities that you're going to be able to pull of such a bloodless miracle. So why are we doing that now?

[Wallaby]

Don't tell me you've figured out a scenario where we get another 6 months to prepare for an anthrax attack?

[EaglesUpForever]

Goes right along with hyping "shock and awe" and saying the war would be quick and painless. The media has come across as if it's the yellow brick road to Baghdad. We still face barbaric enemies across the globe, and there are volunteers from all over the "muslim" world for this war. I wish they would err on the side of overestimating the gravity of the situation.

Whatever shock and awe there is will be that much more shocking and awesome if expectations are dampened rather than being raised.

It is as if the propagandists for the war phase are the same ones as for the (absurdly long, as a certain rapist sat through 8 years doing nothing but) UN negotiations. They are trying to say to an idiot like "ignorance is" Blix: "c'mon, Hans, it's easy baby, we'll waltz right in... have another drink", and they just redirected the "message pipe" towards the American people, forgetting we're not drunk retarded Germans.

War is hell. That will never change. We can take it. Our media deserves to do better, some day. Even in time of war.

[Bernard]

When Jimmy Carter is ambassador to Iraq maybe he can get them to rename that the "Bill Clinton" landmark ....

[hotpotato]

I'm not sure that I'd want to target Uday and Qusay off the bat -- they are his blood, after all. He might get really pissed off.

Not of he's dead, too. Besides, that maniac doesn't give a rat's butt about anyone except himself. Saddam and his sons were reportedly three of the five targeted. I think they are all three dead. Along with two other unnamed senior level leaders. Would Aziz be a good target?

He's on Bush's "Mosted Wanted" list. Not for info... they know enough about him. He's another one of those "evil doers."

[hotpotato]

Ugh, it's late. Make that "Most Wanted" list. However, maybe individuals wanted more than that should belong on a "Mosted Wanted" list.

[Mitchell]

In a way, it's a declaration of war, a statement that war is sure to follow, sooner or later. Pres. Bush said this in words, but it's something else to say it with a missile.

It's an interesting gambit, isn't it?

What do you think the gambit is?

My first thought was that it was a distraction. I'm not sure from what, but perhaps from the fact that the war hasn't started yet, even though the deadline passed.

Maybe it's part of a demonstration to the world that we've tried our best to take him out personally, thus justifying the necessity of broader military action (which would have civilian casualties as a consequence, and we don't want the world to think that we would take such action lightly). This is much like the time at the U.N. which was spent, among other things, proving to the world that we gave peace every chance possible before going to war.

There's also the matter of having the U.S. public aim their attention on an easily discernible villain, just as with bin Laden. It lends emotional focus to the military actions.

[Mitchell]

I'm not sure that I'd want to target Uday and Qusay off the bat -- they are his blood, after all.

Uday and Qusay will go after each other at some point; that's what brothers in that situation always do. We wouldn't want to deprive the Iraqi regime of that eventual struggle, would we?

[Solamente]

Bill Clinton Library?

[Rastus]

[quote]CIA Had Fix on Hussein[/quote]

I
I got a line
I got a line on Udey!

[Mitchell]

I'm not sure I believe this, but...

What if Saddam Hussein is already dead, killed several days ago, by Special Ops perhaps? That could explain Bush's unexpected 48-hour ultimatum.

I know we saw Saddam on TV today, but was it really him?

[nopardons]

Isn't all of that tinfoil becoming a wee bit uncomfortable ?:-)

[Mitchell]

Isn't all of that tinfoil becoming a wee bit uncomfortable ?:-)

Yeah, I suppose so :-).

But it is strange to announce a failed assassination attempt, and it's not very credible that this amazing opportunity would just happen to present itself right as the 48-hour ultimatum expires.

I don't know what the correct tinfoil explanation is, but it's some convoluted story. And it's not the one we're getting in the press.